Windows Mobile

It’s easy to forget about Microsoft’s mobile phone efforts, given the buzz around Apple’s iPhone and the growing number of slick smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system.

But Windows Mobile is likely to grab back some of the limelight next week with the introduction of new phones based on its 6.5 operating system at an event in New York, along with the launch of its Skymarket “app store.”

But Sony and Nintendo’s handheld consoles will also be competing with forthcoming Android-based smartphones, where the next version of the Google OS will focus on improving 3D gaming performance, as well as from new Windows Mobile devices.

Leading iPhone game publisher Gameloft has 11 titles ready for the launch next week of Skymarket, the Windows Mobile “App Store”. An interview after the jump with Gonzague de Vallois, Gameloft’s head of publishing, on the challenge facing Sony and Nintendo. Read more

Apple has introduced a new version of its smallest MP3 player, the shuffle. It’s almost half the size of the old one and has twice the capacity at 4Gb – enough for 1,000 songs. New to the iPod line is its “VoiceOver” ability – press a button and it speaks the name of the artist and song.

Microsoft revealed more details of its Windows Marketplace for Mobile – its version for Windows Mobile phones of Apple‘s App Store for the iPhone. Like Apple, Microsoft will take a 30 per cent cut from developers of applications, but it emphasises “transparency throughout the certification process,” something Apple has been criticised as lacking.

Google said it would begin using behavioural targetting for its ads – showing ads related to a user’s interests. It promises more relevant and effective ads for users and advertisers respectively, but the practice is controversial.

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